Blow molded hollow articles with a covering can be made by a conventional, blow molding process by inserting a covering in a blow mold. For example, this technique can be made to made hollow articles such as carpeted, load floors. A carpeted load floor is formed by placing a carpet in the mold and then inflating a parison to form a hollow article with a bonded carpet on one side and along edges. The wrapping of the carpet along the edges is limited to the location of the parting line that is usually placed at the mid-point of the thickness of a part for ease of manufacturing. The part cannot be molded with a small radius for the upper surface edges. The carpet is thinned at the corners and edges of the upper surface. This thinning may lead to plastic bleed through or poor carpet appearance. The surplus carpet and plastic flash are trimmed along the parting line leading to a sharp edge. As outlined, a number of difficulties arise from this method.
Another conventional method of attaching a carpet to a plastic component is by means of an adhesive. An article is first molded and a carpet is pre-cut to the desired shape. The carpet is affixed to the plastic in a secondary operation. During this secondary operation the adhesive is placed on one or both surfaces to be bonded. The use of adhesive entails a significant additional material cost in manufacturing the part. Also, a period of time is required to bond the carpet to the plastic component adversely affecting productivity. The alignment and placement of carpet is difficult and not exact. The process requires substantial labour and time which makes this process less attractive for automotive manufacturing.
Improvements are required to the covering of a hollow article that meets appearance requirements specifically at the sidewalls of a part, reduces material consumption, reduces labour requirements, and improves productivity.